ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy can never seem to end without some extracurricular activities, and such was the case in the 2024 edition.
As the Wolverines were getting up from victory formation, MSU and Michigan football tangled on the field as the clock wound down, but the two teams were separated without much fuss or muss. However, that didn’t stop the Spartan contingent from poring over the TV copy to find some fault on the maize and blue side of the line of scrimmage.
The scapegoat in East Lansing was Michigan running back Kalel Mullings, who was maligned, even by Spartan media, for their perception that he was stomping on someone, purportedly a female staffer. Of course, there has been no evidence of this beyond zoomed-in, grainy video, but MSU media and fans ran with it, even as athletic director Alan Haller’s attempts at seeking punishment for Michigan were rebuffed by the Big Ten.
Mullings, who was at the center, finally addressed the situation on Tuesday evening, weeks later, noting that he heard his name mentioned as some sort of agitator, but more from family than in social media.
“Thankfully, I don’t really pay too much attention to social media,” Mullings said. “I saw my grandma was calling me and stuff, talking about what they’re saying online, and stuff like that. But I was cool throughout the entire thing, because I knew I didn’t do what people were saying I was doing.
“So, I wasn’t stomping on anybody or anything like that so it didn’t really bother me too much. It was really, I would say it was probably bothering the people around me and my family and stuff more than me, because I was just like — it’s whatever. I know I didn’t do it, and I’m not on (social media) that much anyway, so didn’t really bother me.”
So, as Mullings was in the heart of the story, what is his reaction? What does he say he was doing in the middle of the midfield scrum? According to him, nothing close to what was alleged.
“So, obviously, the fight broke out,” Mullings said. “Guys are going everywhere, and we’re just in the crowd. I was just trying to get guys away and break it up.
“So, yeah, that’s really all there was. And I guess people saw that in some angles, yeah.”
Of course, this will tie up things on the Michigan end, but Mullings will live forever as a bad guy — wrongfully or rightfully — in the eyes of the green and white faithful.